Apicontent

Were the eyewitnesses, who heard Jesus’ words and saw his miraculous deeds, convinced that he is equal in every way with his Father? Or did they think that Jesus was merely a higher created being or a great prophet like Moses?

To sort out truth from fiction, we need to go back to the words of the apostles who were there when Jesus walked the earth and wrote their testimonies of what they saw and heard. We also want to examine what the early church fathers believed and taught since several of them knew and heard the apostles teach.

The Eyewitnesses

Jesus spent three years with his disciples, teaching them about God and explaining to them the deep truths of God’s Word. During those three years, Jesus performed numerous miracles, made audacious claims, and lived a righteous life. After his resurrection, these eyewitnesses wrote down many of Jesus’ words and deeds.

Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, wrote of Jesus’ glory after his resurrection:

We saw it with our own eyes: Jesus resplendent with light from God the Father…. We couldn’t be more sure of what we saw and heard—God’s glory, God’s voice (2 Peter 1:16-17, The Message).

But does the fact that the apostles saw God’s glory and heard God’s voice through Jesus mean that they regarded him as God? New Testament scholar A. H. McNeile explains,

…no sooner had the Life of Jesus ended in apparent failure and shame than the great body of Christians—not an individual here and there, but the mass of the Church—passed over at once to the fixed belief that He was God.¹

Those who deny Jesus’ deity say that the apostles taught that Jesus is God’s supreme creation, and that the Father alone is the eternal God. So, to clarify their beliefs about Jesus, we will examine their words, asking three essential questions:

1. Did the apostles and early Christians worship Jesus and pray to him as Lord?
2. Did the apostles teach that Jesus is the Creator written of in Genesis?
3. Did the apostles worship Jesus as Preeminent in the universe?

Did the Apostles Pray to Jesus as Lord?

After Jesus ascended, the apostles stunned both Jew and Roman by proclaiming Jesus as “Lord”.² Both the apostles and early Christians did the unthinkable and worshiped Jesus, even praying to him as if he was God. Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” as he was being stoned to death (Acts 7:59).

Other believers soon joined Stephen, who even while they were facing death, “never ceased for a single day…to teach and to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus” (Acts 5:42). The apostles, most of whom were martyred, passed on their knowledge of Jesus to church fathers who carried their message onto the next generation.

Although letters from early church fathers were written too late to be included in the New Testament, they strongly emphasize the apostles’ teaching that Jesus is both God and man.

For example, Ignatius, a disciple of the apostle John, wrote about Jesus’ 2nd coming, “Look for him that is above the times, him who has not times, him who is invisible.” In a letter to Polycarp, who was also a disciple of the apostle John, Ignatius states, “Jesus is God”, “God incarnate,” and to the Ephesians he writes, … “God Himself appearing in the form of a man, for the renewal of eternal life” (Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 4:13). Clement of Rome in AD 96 also taught Jesus’ deity, saying, “We ought to think of Jesus Christ as of God” (2nd Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 1:1).

So, the idea that belief in Jesus’ deity was invented by the church decades after the apostles were dead simply doesn’t agree with the historical facts. It’s clear that the early church was merely continuing the apostles’ belief in Jesus’ deity.

As the early church grew, Gnostics and other cults began teaching that Jesus was a created being, inferior to the Father. This came to a head in the fourth century when Arius, a popular preacher from Libya, persuaded many leaders that Jesus wasn’t fully God.

Then in AD 325, at the Council of Nicaea, church leaders met to resolve the issue of whether Jesus is the Creator, or merely a creation.³ Over 300 church leaders overwhelmingly affirmed the long-held Christian conviction and New Testament teaching that Jesus is fully God.⁴

Did the Apostles Believe Jesus was the Creator?

But did the apostles believe Jesus was the one who created everything—including us?

In Genesis the God of the Bible is revealed as Creator of everything from tiny quantum particles to over a trillion galaxies averaging 100 billion stars each. He also created the complex coding of DNA that organizes proteins to develop all living life forms including us.

The prophet Isaiah confirms that God (Yahweh) is the Creator:

I (Yahweh) am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it…. I stretched out the heavens…. All the millions of stars are at my command!” (Isaiah 45:11a, 12, 13b).

The fact that God created the universe and everything in it is foundational to both Old Testament and New Testament theology.

The Apostle John’s Testimony

When Jesus’ disciples gazed at the stars on dark evenings, they didn’t dream or imagine that the Creator of those stars was in their very presence. Although Jesus healed the blind and deaf, calmed storms, and even raised Lazarus from the dead, John and the other disciples saw him as a man with real physical needs for food, rest and sleep.

Yet once they saw Jesus alive after his crucifixion, their eyes were open to his deity. They immediately began spreading the word that Jesus was both God and man.

The apostle John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, begins his Gospel by revealing Jesus as the eternal “Word” who created everything:

In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people (John 1:1,3-4, NCV).

Let’s look closely at what John, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, is saying here:

1. the “Word” existed before creation
2. the “Word” is the Creator who created everything
3. the “Word” is God⁵

John has told us that the Word is eternal, created everything that exists, and is God. But he doesn’t tell us whether the Word is just a force or a person until verse 14, which makes it clear that John is speaking about Jesus as the Son of God.

The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory—the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father—and he was full of grace and truth (John 1;14, NCV).

John also refers to Jesus as the Word in his epistle,

Christ is the Word of Life. He was from the beginning. We have heard Him and have seen Him with our own eyes. We have looked at Him and put our hands on Him (1 John 1:1, NIV).

The apostle John tells us that “nothing exists that he (Jesus) didn’t make.” If nothing existed apart from him, it follows that Jesus couldn’t have been a created being.

Paul’s Testimony

Unlike John, the apostle Paul, (formerly Saul) was a bitter opponent and persecutor of Christians until Jesus revealed himself to him in a vision. Years later, Paul writes about Jesus as the Creator to the Colossians:

He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of creation. For by Him all things were created…all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:15-17, NASB).

Paul reveals several important things in this passage:

1. Jesus is the exact image of God.
2. Jesus is the “first-born” of creation.
3. Jesus created everything.
4. Jesus is the reason for creation.
5. Jesus existed before everything.
6. Jesus holds creation together.

What does “exact image of God” mean? Bible scholar F. F. Bruce remarks: “To call Christ the image of God is to say that in Him the being and nature of God have been perfectly manifested–that in Him the invisible has become visible.”⁶ Thus, God being visible in Christ coincides with Jesus’ own words to Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

In verse 15, the Greek word for “first-born” (prototokos) means ‘”supreme’ rather than in the temporal sense of ‘born after.”⁷ According to Bruce, Paul is referring to “Christ’s pre-existence and cosmic activity in creation, and “denotes not only Jesus’ priority but also his primacy.”⁸ What makes this clear is verse 16 which tells us that everything in the universe was created both through Jesus Christ, and also for him.

In verse 17 we see the eternal Christ sustaining creation. According to Paul, every atom, each DNA strand, and trillions of galaxies are held together by the power of Jesus Christ.

The Book of Hebrews’ Testimony

The New Testament book of Hebrews⁹ also reveals Jesus as the Creator of everything. Its opening passage mirrors Paul’s words to the Colossians:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:1-3, NIV).

Just as John and Paul reveal, the author of Hebrews tells us that prior to Jesus becoming a man, God created the universe through him. And Hebrews also reveals Jesus Christ as the one who sustains it.

Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Jesus as the “perfect imprint and very image of God’s nature.”¹⁰ The Greek word here means that “the Son is the effulgence, the out-raying of the glory of God’s glory.”¹¹ This statement, that Jesus is the “perfect imprint” of the infinite God, confirms that the apostles believed Jesus is fully God.

The author of Hebrews then goes on to tell us that Jesus is not only superior to the prophets, but he also is far above the angels. “This shows that God’s Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is far greater than their names” (Hebrews 1:4).

John Piper explains why Jesus is vastly superior to angels:

No angel in heaven ever received such honor and affection as the Son has received from all eternity from his Father. As great and wonderful as angels are, they do not rival the Son…. The Son of God is not an angel—not even the highest archangel. Rather God says, “Let God’s angels worship him!” (Hebrews 1:6). The Son of God is worthy of all the worship that the hosts of heaven can give—not to mention ours.”¹²

The author of Hebrews then removes all doubt regarding Jesus’ deity:

“But as to the Son, He [the Father] says to Him, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever….’” (Hebrews 1:8, Amplified).

Later in Hebrews, we learn that Jesus Christ “is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” a clear statement of his eternal Deity (Hebrews 13:8). A created being is not the same today as yesterday because there would have been a time when he didn’t exist.

It would be difficult to construe these passages in Hebrews to mean anything other than the fact that Jesus is the God spoken of in the Old Testament, who along with His Father and the Holy Spirit, created the universe.

Pre-Eminent One

The early Christians were accused by the Romans of stealing glory from Caesar, and by the Jews of robbing glory from God (Yahweh). Christianity is criticized by some as being “too Jesus focused.” But is that what the apostles thought? Let’s hear again from Paul as he writes to the Colossians about Jesus.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:19, ESV).

Paul writes that God is pleased to have Jesus as the preeminent person in the universe. But the Old Testament clearly teaches that God will never relinquish his preeminence to a created being (Deuteronomy. 6:4-5; Psalm 83:18; Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 42:11). Isaiah speaks clearly of God’s (Yahweh’s) preeminence.

Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. I have sworn by my own name, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to my name (Isaiah 45:22-23, NLT).

But how can both Jesus and Yahweh be preeminent? In Genesis the Hebrew word used for God the Creator is plural (Elohim). And, when Isaiah states that God alone created everything, the Hebrew word for God (Yahweh) is also plural. Dr. Norman Geisler concludes,

Biblically speaking, there is more than enough evidence to conclude that the fundamental nature of God is portrayed by the Scriptures as a plural oneness.¹³

Paul attributes to Jesus the same words of honor Isaiah attributes to Yahweh:

Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.

Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:6-11, NLT).

This passage reveals that before Jesus became a man, he had the full rights of the Godhead. Paul concludes by attributing to Jesus the worship Isaiah said belongs only to Yahweh, “that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Over seven hundred years before Christ, God tells us through Isaiah, “every knee shall bow to him (Yahweh).” That he is “the Lord, the King of Israel.” “The Redeemer.” “The First and the Last.” Zechariah speaks of God as “the King, the Lord of Hosts who will judge the earth.”

Note the parallels between Yahweh in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament:

• “Every Knee shall bow to Jesus” (Philippians 2:11,12)
• Jesus is the “Alpha and Omega—God” (Revelation 21: 6, 7)
• Jesus is the “First and the Last—God” (Revelation 21:7-22:13)
• Jesus is the “Beginning and the End—God” (Revelation 21:6, 7)
• Jesus is the “Almighty Lord” (Revelation 1:8)
• Jesus is the King of Kings” (Revelation 17:14)
• Jesus is the “Lord of Lords” (Revelation 17:14)

Conclusion

The Christian message is that God the Creator came to earth, allowed men to spit on him, mock him, and nail him to a cross as a supreme sacrifice for our sins. God’s perfect justice could only be satisfied by a mediator who was both man and God, taking on himself payment for our sin. No angel or created proxy would suffice. Such an act of condescension demonstrates the immensity of God’s love and grace, as well as the high value He places upon each of us.

In his parting words to the Ephesian elders, Paul encouraged them to “shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28 NASB). Paul is echoing Zechariah’s prophecy where God (Yahweh) says,

“In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem….and they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son (Zechariah 12:8a,10b).

Zechariah reveals that the one pierced on the cross was none other than God, himself. Jesus Christ brings Old and New Testaments together like separate instruments harmonizing to create a beautiful symphony. “For, unless Jesus is God, Christianity loses its central theme. But if Jesus is God, all other major Christian doctrines fit together like pieces of a puzzle.”

Kreeft and Tacelli explain:¹⁴

• “If Christ is divine, then the incarnation, or ‘enfleshing’ of God, is the most important event in history. It is the hinge of history. It changes everything.”
• “If Christ is God, then when he died on the cross, heaven’s gate, closed by sin, opened up to us for the first time since Eden. No event in history could be more important to every person on earth than that.”
• “If Christ is God, then, since he is omnipotent and present right now, he can transform you and your life right now as nothing and no one else possibly can.”
• “If Christ is divine, he has a right to our entire lives, including our inner life and our thoughts.”

The apostles made Jesus Lord of their lives, wrote of him as the Creator, and worshiped him as preeminent. These firsthand eyewitnesses were absolutely convinced that God had visited planet earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, who will return as King of kings and Lord of lords, as well as our eternal Judge.

It was because of the apostles unswerving conviction that Jesus was God in the flesh that they willingly gave their lives proclaiming him as both Savior and Lord.

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Endnotes

There is solid historical and textual evidence to support the New Testament’s accounts of Jesus and the apostles. But many wonder why other so-called gospels aren’t included. Two of the most discussed writings that people wonder about are the Gnostic Gospels and the Gospel of Barnabas. We’ll look at the Gnostic Gospels first.

Are There Secret Writings About Jesus?

In 1945 a discovery was made in Upper Egypt, near the town of Nag Hammadi. Fifty-two copies of ancient writings, called the Gnostic gospels were found in 13 leather-bound papyrus codices (handwritten books). They were written in Coptic and belonged to a library in a monastery.

A few Gnostic scholars have gone so far as to assert that these recently discovered writings are the authentic history of Jesus instead of the New Testament.

But does their faith in these documents square with the historical evidence? Let’s take a deeper look to see if we can separate truth from fiction.

Secret “Knowers”

The Gnostic gospels are attributed to a group known as the Gnostics. Their name comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning “knowledge.” These people thought they had secret, special knowledge hidden from ordinary people.

As Christianity spread, the Gnostics mixed some doctrines and elements of Christian­ity into their beliefs, morphing Gnosticism into a counterfeit Christianity. However, for their system of thought to fit with Christianity, Jesus needed to be rein­vented, stripped of both his humanity and his absolute deity.

In The Oxford History of Christianity John McManners wrote of the Gnostics’ mixture of Christian and mythical beliefs.

Gnosticism was (and still is) a theoso­phy with many ingredients. Occult­ism and oriental mysticism became fused with astrology… They collected sayings of Jesus shaped to fit their own interpretation (as in the Gospel of Thomas) and offered their adherents an alternative or rival form of Christianity.¹

Early Critics

A mild strain of Gnostic philosophy was already growing in the first century just decades after the death of Jesus. The apostles, in their teaching and writings, went to great lengths to condemn these beliefs as being opposed to the truth of Jesus, of whom they were eyewitnesses.

Check out, for example, what the apostle John wrote near the end of the first century: “Who is the great liar? The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are antichrists, for they have denied the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22, NIV).

Following the apostles’ teaching, the early church leaders unanimously condemned the Gnostics as a cult. Church father Irenaeus, writing 140 years before the Council of Nicaea, confirmed that Gnostics were condemned by the church as heretics. He also rejected their “gospels.” But, referring to the four New Testament Gospels, he said, “It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are.”²

Christian theologian Origen wrote this in the early third century, more than a hun­dred years before Nicaea:

I know a certain gospel which is called “The Gospel according to Thomas” and a “Gospel according to Matthias,” and many others have we read—lest we should in any way be considered ignorant because of those who imagine they possess some knowledge if they are acquainted with these. Nevertheless, among all these we have approved solely what the church has recognized, which is that only four gospels should be accepted.³

Mystery Authors

When it comes to the Gnostic gospels, just about every book carries the name of a New Testament character: the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Mary, and so on. But could they have even been written by their purported authors? Let’s take a look.

The Gnostic gospels are dated about 110 to 300 years after Christ, and no cred­ible scholar believes any of them could have been written by their namesakes. In James M. Robinson’s comprehensive The Nag Hammadi Library, we learn that the Gnostic gospels were written by “largely unrelated and anonymous authors.”⁴

New Testament scholar Norman Geisler writes,

The Gnostic writings were not written by the apostles, but by men in the second century (and later) pretending to use apostolic authority to advance their own teachings. Today we call this fraud and forgery.⁵

Mystery Versus History

The Gnostic gospels are not historical ac­counts of Jesus’ life but instead are largely esoteric sayings, shrouded in mystery, leaving out historical details such as names, places, and events. This is in strik­ing contrast to the New Testament Gospels, which contain innumerable historical facts about Jesus’ life, ministry, and words.

Consider the following two statements, the first from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas (c. AD 110-150), and the second from the New Testament’s Gospel of Luke (AD 55-70)

• Gospel of Thomas: “These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke, and Judas Thomas the Twin recorded.”⁶
• Gospel of Luke: “Many people have written accounts about the events that took place among us. They used as their source material the reports circulating among us from the early disciples and other eyewitnesses of what God has done in fulfillment of his promises. Having carefully investigated all of these accounts from the beginning, I have decided to write a careful summary for you, to reassure you of the truth of all you were taught” (Luke 1:1-4, NLT).

Hidden sayings in the Gnostic gospels compared with factual accounts in the New Testament. Noted professor Raymond Brown has said of the Gnostic gospels,

We learn not a single verifiable new fact about the historical Jesus’ ministry, and only a few new sayings that might possibly have been his.⁷

Such contrast between the New Testament and the Gnostic writings is devastating to those pushing conspiracy theories.

In summary, the Gnostic gospels simply don’t meet the high standards required by scholars for inclusion in the New Testament.  New Testament historian F. F. Bruce wrote,

There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.⁸

The Gospel of Barnabas: Secret Bible?

A Turkish official discovered a 1,500-year-old ancient leather-bound text, secretly hidden for 12 years, that could be an authentic version of the Gospel of Barnabas.

According to this “secret Bible,” Barnabas was one of Jesus’ original twelve apostles. However, in the book of Acts, Luke introduces Barnabas as an apostle who came after the original twelve and was a fellow missionary with the apostle Paul. In their travels, Paul and Barnabas boldly declared Jesus’ death, resurrection and lordship in the first century.⁹

A Different Jesus?

Although the document entitled the Gospel of Barnabas contains much of the same information as the four New Testament Gospels, it differs greatly about the identity of Jesus Christ. A few of the significant differences are that the Gospel of Barnabas:

• Denies Jesus’ deity
• Rejects the Trinity
• Denies Jesus’ crucifixion

Let’s look at what the Gospel of Barnabas says about Jesus’ deity.

Gospel of Barnabas:

I confess before heaven, and call to witness everything that dwells upon the earth, that I am a stranger to all that men have said of me, to wit, that I am more than man. For I am a man, born of a woman, subject to the judgment of God; that live here like as other men, subject to the common miseries.¹⁰

Clearly the Gospel of Barnabas depicts Jesus denying his deity, whereas the apostle John clearly writes of Jesus as God the Son, Creator of the world.

Gospel of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made…. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory…¹¹

In this passage, John claims he actually saw Jesus. Later he tells us he touched him, traveled with him and heard him teach for three years. He speaks about Jesus as a close companion. But the writer of the Gospel of Barnabas makes no such claim.

Both writings also differ regarding Jesus’ crucifixion. The Gospel of Barnabas presents Judas Iscariot as the one who died on the cross instead of Jesus, whereas in the New Testament, Judas betrays Jesus.

Both messages can’t be true since the New Testament says Jesus clearly died on the cross and the Gospel of Barnabas states otherwise. So how can we know which Jesus is real?

The best way to know the truth about whether or not Jesus died on the cross is to check the historical record. Even secular historians are convinced that Jesus did truly die on the cross.

Another important way to verify whether the Gospel of Barnabas or the New Testament is portraying events truthfully is to compare the reliability of the two different accounts.

Although scholars use several tests to determine a manuscript’s reliability, the most important is whether it is an eyewitness account. In a criminal trial, eyewitness testimony is always considered far superior to the testimony of someone who didn’t witness the crime. If either gospel can be traced back to the first century, the likelihood of its reliability greatly increases. So, what does the evidence tell us? Let’s begin with the Gospel of Barnabas.

Is The Gospel of Barnabas an Eyewitness Account?

In order for the Gospel of Barnabas to have been an eyewitness account, it would need to have been written during Jesus’ lifetime in the first century. Since we don’t have the original writings for either the Gospel of Barnabas or the New Testament, we need to verify their dating by both historical evidence and the evidence from ancient manuscript copies.

There are only two ancient manuscripts of the Gospel of Barnabas other than the one discovered in Turkey: an Italian manuscript which dates to the 15^th or 16^th century, and a Spanish copy from around the same period which has been lost.¹² The text in the newly discovered Turkish manuscript is in Aramaic. None of these copies are in Greek, the language of Barnabas and the apostles.

Two early Christian lists of apocryphal works, one from the 5th century and one from the 7th century, mention “A Gospel of Barnabas.” If these refer to the same Gospel, it would place its writing 400-500 years after Christ or earlier. But that still is several hundred years after the 1^st century.

The Acts of Barnabas is a 5^th century apocryphal work directed to the church of Cyprus that is sometimes mistakenly confused with the Gospel of Barnabas.

The only book from the 1^st century attributed to the apostle Barnabas is the Epistle of Barnabas, which is an apocryphal writing not in the New Testament. This 1^st century letter speaks of Jesus as the crucified and resurrected Lord. Scholars believe it was written by Barnabas between AD 70 and 90.

But if Barnabas writes of Jesus as Lord in the 1^st century Epistle of Barnabas, why would he then write of Jesus as merely a prophet in the Gospel of Barnabas? Why would he write two contradictory accounts of Jesus?

The Epistle of Barnabas is accepted by scholars as an authentic 1^st century account of Jesus that agrees with the New Testament. However, the Gospel of Barnabas is a completely different book with a completely different timeline.

The following evidence suggests that the Gospel of Barnabas wasn’t recognized as a 1^st century gospel by early Christians or non-Christians:¹³

• No non-Christian writer refers to it until the 15^th or 16^th century.
• No Christian writer refers to it from the 1^st to the 15^th century.
• The earliest reference to it was made in the 5^th century, but it is in doubt.
• It cites historical facts that didn’t exist until hundreds of years later.¹⁴

Medieval Forgery?

Christian writers such as Irenaeus wrote extensively about anti-Christian documents such as the Gnostic gospels, classifying them as heretical. Yet not one of Irenaeus’ letters or documents mentions the Gospel of Barnabas. There is simply no mention of it from any early writer.

Perhaps most indicative of its late date is that the Gospel of Barnabas describes medieval life in Western Europe, as well as a 100-year Jubilee, which wasn’t declared until the 14^th century. How would Barnabas or any 1^st century writer know such historical detail hundreds of years before it was declared?

Dr. Norman Geisler concludes, “The evidence that this was not a 1^st century gospel, written by a disciple of Christ, is overwhelming.”¹⁵

Not only does the evidence argue against it being written by Barnabas in the 1^st century, but some scholars believe the Gospel is a forgery. One expert writes, “In my opinion scholarly research has proved absolutely that this ‘gospel’ is a fake.”¹⁶

Is The New Testament an Eyewitness Account?

History provides clues from three primary sources regarding the date of origin for the 27 books of the New Testament:

• Testimony of Church Enemies
• Early Christian Accounts
• Early Manuscript Copies

The first clue is a partial list of New Testament books made by enemies of the Church called heretics. As outlaws of the Church, heretics wouldn’t have been concerned about agreeing with Church leaders about the authorship or dating of the New Testament. Yet, two early heretics, Marcion and Valentinus, did attribute the writings of several New Testament books and passages to the apostles.

In AD 140, the heretic Marcion listed 11 of the 27 New Testament books as being the authentic writings of the apostles.

At about the same time, another heretic, Valentinus, alludes to a wide variety of New Testament themes and passages.

What this tells us is that by the middle of the 2^nd century many New Testament books had been in circulation for some time. Even heretic “outlaws” accepted these New Testament accounts as the eyewitness reports from the apostles.

Early Christian Accounts

Our second clue is the vast number of early Christian letters, sermons, commentaries, and creeds referring to Jesus as the resurrected Lord. They appeared as early as five years after his crucifixion.

The number of these documents is impressive; more than 36,000 complete or partial writings, some from the 1^st century, have been discovered.¹⁷ Their words could replicate virtually the entire New Testament except for a few verses.¹⁸

So how does that compare with the Gospel of Barnabas? We have already noted that there are only two citations of it prior to the 15^th century, and it is doubtful those references were to the “Gospel of Barnabas” in question.¹⁹

The earliest writings outside the New Testament were from men who knew and followed Paul, Peter, John and the other apostles. These early church leaders were not eyewitnesses to Jesus but learned about him from those who had actually seen and heard him.

The most important of these early writings outside the New Testament are from Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna.

In AD 96, Clement of Rome wrote a lengthy letter to the church at Corinth in which he cited Matthew, John, and 1 Corinthians. Some believe he is the Clement mentioned by Paul in Philippians 4:3. Since Clement’s letter was written in AD 96, these three books must have been written earlier.

In about AD 110, Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the apostle John, wrote six letters to churches and one to a fellow bishop, Polycarp, in which he refers to six of Paul’s letters. Polycarp of Smyrna, also a disciple of the apostle John, refers to all 27 New Testament books in his letter to the Philippian church (AD 110-135).

Therefore, the Gospels must have been in existence in the 1^st century when eyewitnesses (including John) were still alive. We have seen that no such early reference to the Gospel of Barnabas exists.

Early Manuscript Copies

Our third clue is the abundance of early New Testament manuscripts which have helped scholars determine the approximate time they were originally composed.

Archaeologists have discovered over 5,600 manuscript copies of the New Testament in the original Greek language, some complete books, and some mere fragments. Counting other languages, there are over 24,000.²⁰ However, only three copies of the Gospel of Barnabas have been discovered.

Furthermore, archaeologists have discovered New Testament fragments that date to within a generation or two after Christ, compared with hundreds of years later for the Gospel of Barnabas.

Scholars’ Consensus

Prior to these findings, German critical scholars from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries had argued that the New Testament was written by unknown authors in the 2^nd century. But this new evidence reveals that its books were all written in the 1^st century. Historian Paul Johnson writes:

The late nineteenth-early twentieth-century notion that the New Testament was a collection of late and highly imaginative records can no longer be seriously held. No one now doubts that St. Paul’s epistles, the earliest Christian records, are authentic or dates them later than the A.D. 50s.²¹

Archaeologist William Albright states the entire New Testament was written at “very probably sometime between about 50 A.D. and 75 A.D.”²²

The following chart illustrates the significant difference between the writing of New Testament and the Gospel of Barnabas.

RELIABILITY TESTS	NEW TESTAMENT	GOSPEL OF BARNABAS
Date of Original	AD 40-95	AD 400-1500
Earliest Verified Copies	AD 117-138	AD 400-1500
Gap from Original	22-98 years	Undetermined
Years after Christ	7-30	370-1,470
Number of Manuscripts in Original Language	5,600+	None
Number of Manuscripts in All Languages	24,000+	3
Citations in other Historical Documents	36,000+	2

Conclusion

Whereas the “secret Bible” called the Gospel of Barnabas was written 400-1500 years after Christ, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written in the 1^st century, within one generation of his life.

Neither the Gnostic Gospels nor the Gospel of Barnabas meet the stringent standards early church fathers used to determine which books were the authentic eyewitness reports of the apostles. They were excluded for their late dating, fraudulent authorship and inconsistency with the eyewitness accounts of the apostles.

As one reads the New Testament, it becomes apparent that the writers made every attempt to honestly record the life, words and events surrounding Jesus. Luke, the writer of both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, puts it this way,

Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.²³

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Endnotes

Imagine a moment when the skies split open, and a figure descends in radiant glory, visible to every eye on earth—friend and foe alike. The Bible foretells such a day when Jesus Christ will return to Jerusalem, not as a humble carpenter, but as the triumphant King, wielding unmatched power and divine authority (Revelation 1:7).

Following his resurrection, Jesus’ disciples anticipated the immediate establishment of his kingdom. However, after commissioning them to spread the gospel globally, Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts 1:9-11. As the disciples watched in awe, two angels appeared, declaring, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” This aligns with the prophecy in Zechariah 14:4, written 500 years earlier, which foretold the Messiah’s return to the Mount of Olives to establish his kingdom.

Not only does the New Testament foretell Jesus physical return to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, but it also reveals that Jesus will return in the clouds for his Church. Some biblical scholars believe his return for believers and his return to Jerusalem occur at different times, while others think they occur simultaneously. Let’s examine what the Bible actually says about Jesus’ return to Jerusalem as well as his return for his Church.

Jesus’ Return for His Church

Jesus’ return for his Church, often referred to as the “rapture,” is where believers will be caught up to meet him in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The New Testament outlines three key aspects of the rapture:

1. Imminency: Jesus instructed his disciples to, “Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42, NIV). The apostle Paul echoed that Jesus’ return for his Church is imminent, urging believers to await “the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13, NIV). This expectation of imminency encourages believers to live with anticipation and purity, as 1 John 3:2-3 states: “When Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
2. All Believers Caught Up: Paul reassured the Thessalonian believers that both the living and the dead in Christ will participate in the rapture. He wrote, “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, NIV).
3. A Mystery Known Only to the Father: Jesus emphasized that the timing of his return is unknown, stating, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36, NIV). Paul further described this event as a “mystery,” occurring “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, NIV).

When Jesus was preparing his disciples for his departure to heaven, he comforted them by assuring them he would return to take them home to be with him. “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3, NIV).

The apostles and early church were comforted by their belief that Jesus’ return for them could happen at any time, not expecting any event to precede its occurrence. The apostle John concludes the Book of Revelation with Jesus’ promise, “Yes, I am coming soon,” to which John responds, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20, NIV). This anticipation of Jesus’ soon return has motivated many people to receive Jesus as both Savior and Lord.

Jesus’ Return to Jerusalem

As mentioned previously, the Bible also describes Jesus’ physical return to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, a dramatic event where “every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7). This return will fulfill Old Testament prophecies and establish his earthly kingdom. Four key elements precede this event:

1. Physical Return to Jerusalem: Zechariah 14:4 specifies that the Messiah will one day return to the Mount of Olives, the same location from which Jesus ascended. God designated Jerusalem as the focal point of his redemptive plan. It was in Jerusalem (originally Moriah) that God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac on the alter. (Genesis 22). God was testing Abraham’s faith and would never have let Abraham kill his son. He was providing us with a picture, foreshadowing the time when he would sacrifice his only Son on the cross for our sins.
2. Signs and Wonders: Jesus outlined specific signs preceding his return to Jerusalem, including increased earthquakes, famines, wars, epidemics, and persecution of believers (Matthew 24:3-14). He also noted that the gospel would be preached worldwide before the end (Matthew 24:14). Today, persecution of Christians is increasing at an alarming rate. And global communication technologies like the internet and media facilitate this unprecedented spread of the gospel, while natural disasters and conflicts align with Jesus’ predictions.
3. Jerusalem Surrounded by Enemies: Prophecies in Ezekiel 36-38 and Zechariah 12-14 describe Jerusalem surrounded by hostile nations in the last days. The rebirth of Israel in 1948 and its control of Jerusalem since 1967 set the stage for these events.
4. Rise of the Antichrist: Paul and John describe a figure, the “man of lawlessness” or “antichrist,” who will rise to power before Christ’s return (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 13:1-10). This powerful figure will initiate a seven-year tribulation period with a deceptive peace treaty (Daniel 9:27), control the global economy, and oppose God. In the middle of the tribulation, the antichrist’s blasphemous act in the Jewish temple will usher in God’s judgment on a sinful world. At the tribulation’s climax, Jesus will return to defeat him and establish His kingdom (Revelation 19:11-21).

God’s Timetable

Although Scripture tells believers that Jesus could return for them at any moment, there are specific events on God’s timetable that must take place prior to his return. In Israel, God’s Clock, Dr. Jack MacArthur writes that the key to knowing where we are in God’s timetable for Jesus’ return is Israel’s prophesied return to its homeland.

Let’s take a brief look at what has happened in Israel, beginning with their rejection of Jesus as its Messiah.

When Jerusalem rejected Jesus as their Messiah, he sadly told the people, their “house will be left completely empty.” In AD 70 Romans destroyed the city and those who survived fled to other lands. Jesus then said, “You will not see me again until that time when you will say, ‘God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:39, NCV).

After AD 70, Jerusalem remained under foreign control for nearly 1,900 years. During that period, most people never expected Israel would ever be reestablished as a nation. But God had promised their return: “I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land” (Ezekiel 36:24).

In fulfillment of prophecy, Jewish people flocked to their original homeland in waves, beginning in the early 20^th century, and peaking in the 1930s due to persecution in Europe. Their desire to be restored as a nation was finally realized in 1948. Nineteen years later Jerusalem was conquered by the Jews, setting the stage for Christ’s return.

God’s timetable for Jesus’ return to Jerusalem also requires it to be surrounded by its enemies. The Israel-Hamas conflict, beginning October 7, 2023, and rising global antisemitism highlight the growing threats to Israel, aligning with biblical prophecies. Today, Israel is surrounded by several countries that are committed to Israel’s destruction.

So, now that the stage is set for Jesus’ return to Jerusalem, what does that mean for his coming for his Church? Although they are separate events, their timing is still related.

In 1894, British scholar Sir Robert Anderson wrote of Jesus’ imminent return, although Israel’s rebirth was still 54 years from fulfillment. In his classic survey of Daniel’s prophecy of the end times, The Coming Prince, Anderson writes,

Certain passages testify that Christ will return to earth…and others tell us that He will come, not to earth, but to the air above us, and call His people up to meet Him and be with Him….These difficulties admit of only one solution…namely, that the second advent of Christ is not a single event, but includes several distinct manifestations. At first, He will call up to Himself the righteous dead, together with His own people then living upon earth. Before the return of Christ to earth, many a page of prophecy has yet to be fulfilled…but not a line of Scripture bars the realization of this the Church’s special hope of His coming to take His people to Himself.¹

Since Jesus’ return for believers and his return to Jerusalem are linked together in the “second advent,” Israel’s rebirth should cause us to “look up for your redemption is near” (Luke 21;28). 

Why the Delay?

In Why I Am Not a Christian, Bertrand Russell questioned Jesus’ delay, accusing Him of breaking his promise. Peter anticipated such criticism, noting that scoffers would say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?”² (2 Peter 3:4, NIV). Peter explained, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, NIV).

Preparing for Jesus’ Return

In the book of Ephesians, Paul refers to Jesus as the bridegroom and the Church (all believers) as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27). This comparison to human marriage is a metaphor for how Jesus promises to indwell each believer with his Holy Spirit. He also desires us to eagerly wait for his return when he will take us to his heavenly home.

There was an ancient Jewish custom where a bride waited in anticipation of the bridegroom’s arrival while he was at his father’s house preparing the bridal chamber. After the new home was ready, the groom would make a surprise visit to the bride who had been eagerly waiting for his arrival. During the long wait—often a year or more—the bride would remain at her parents’ house, dressed and prepared with her bridesmaids for the bridegroom’s arrival.

As she waited for the sound of the trumpet announcing the arrival of her beloved bridegroom, the bride eagerly waited to see his face and go to their new home together. Once the trumpet sounded, she and her bridesmaids went out to meet the groom and join the procession back to the bridal chamber.

This ancient tradition is the backdrop for Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins (bridesmaids), where five of them grew tired of waiting for the bridegroom’s return at midnight, and their lamps were out of oil. However, the five wise bridesmaids had kept their lamps ready for his return. Jesus used that parable to encourage his followers to make sure they are ready for his return. He said,

So always be ready, because you don’t know the day of the hour the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 25:1-13, NCV).

C.S. Lewis summarized how believers can prepare for Christ’s return with three key principles:³

1. Jesus will certainly return.
2. The timing is unknown.
3. Therefore, we must always be ready.

To Prepare:

• Ensure a Personal Relationship with Jesus: Accept his forgiveness and salvation.

To invite Jesus Christ into your life, you place your faith (trust) in him for the forgiveness of your sins and allow him to transform you into the person he wants you to be.

When you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead, God will forgive all of your sins, and the Holy Spirit will come to dwell in you. Your old self will be considered dead with Christ. You will be spiritually born again as a new creation in Christ.

You can invite Jesus into your life by expressing your faith directly to God through prayer. Simply pray the following words. But remember, it’s not the words you say but the attitude of your heart that is important.

“Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for all my sins—past, present, and future. Thank you for giving me eternal life, which you made possible by your death and resurrection. I receive you as my Savior by faith and desire you to be Lord of my life. I give you the right to make me into the kind of person you want me to be.”  

If you have invited Jesus Christ into your life, begin laying a solid foundation for your new relationship with God.

• Live to Please Him: Paul wrote, “We make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it” (2 Corinthians 5:9, NIV). Believers should live in obedience to Christ, sharing the gospel as commanded in Matthew 28:19-20.     

The Adventure of Living with Jesus is a great study for new believers and those who want to renew their commitment to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

There are many additional articles and videos available to you for free on this JO App.

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Endnotes

At the core of Christianity is the belief that God came to earth in the Person of his Son, Jesus Christ. 

At least two of those who saw and wrote about Jesus called him the Creator of the universe. The apostle John said, “All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made (John 1:3). The apostle Paul said, “All things were made by Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).

As J. I. Packer explains, “The gospel tells us that our Creator has become our Redeemer.”¹ Because this conviction is the central theme of Christianity, denying the deity of Jesus Christ places a dagger into the heart of the Christian message.

But did Jesus really claim to be God, or is that a teaching that evolved over time? Since Jesus spoke Aramaic (a dialect of Hebrew), we need to understand what his claims meant to his Aramaic-speaking audience. How did they react to his claims?

Since his Jewish audience was immersed in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), we need to also understand Jesus’ claims about himself in light of their teaching about God.

Did Jesus Teach God is One?

The Bible reveals God as the sole Creator of the universe. He alone is infinite, eternal, all powerful, all-knowing, personal, righteous, loving, just, and holy. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God says, “I alone am God. There is no other God; there never has been and never will be. I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior” (Isaiah 43:10-11, NLT).

When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush 1500 years before Christ, he told Moses his name is Yahweh, (I AM) (English translation: Jehovah or LORD). Since that time, the foundational Scripture (Shema) for Judaism has been: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

It is in this world of monotheistic belief in one God that Jesus Christ began making claims that astounded all who heard them.

The question we must ask is: did Jesus equate himself with Yahweh, the one true God who spoke with Moses at the burning bush?

To find out, let’s look further at the names Jesus used for himself, and what those names meant to his Jewish audience. Who did they think Jesus was claiming to be?

Did Jesus use God’s Name for Himself?

As Jesus’ popularity swelled with the masses, the Jewish leaders (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes) began to see Jesus as a threat. Suddenly they began looking for ways to trap him.

One day Jesus was debating some Pharisees at the Temple, when suddenly he said, “I am the light of the world.” It is almost bizarre to picture this scene, where a traveling carpenter from the lowlands of Galilee tells these PhD’s in religion that he is “the light of the world?”

Believing Yahweh alone is the light of the world, they replied indignantly:

“You are making false claims about yourself” (John 8:13 NLT).

Jesus then told them that, 2,000 years earlier, Abraham had foreseen him.

Their response was incredulous: “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” (John 8:57 NLT).

Then Jesus shocked them even more with words no ordinary man would dare to say: “The truth is, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58 NLT).

To the shock of the religious leaders who heard him, Jesus claimed to have always existed with God the Father, meaning he never had a beginning.

Furthermore, he had used the I AM title (Greek translation: ego eimi),² the sacred name for God! These religious experts lived and breathed the Old Testament Scriptures declaring Yahweh alone as God.

It’s easy to understand the rage of those who realized Jesus was speaking of himself as God. Since the penalty for blasphemy was death by stoning, the Jewish leaders angrily picked up stones to kill Jesus. At that point Jesus could have said, “Wait! You misunderstood me—I’m not claiming to be Yahweh.” But Jesus didn’t alter his statement, even at the risk of being killed.

C. S. Lewis explains their anger:

He says… “I am begotten of the One God, before Abraham was, I am,” and remember what the words “I am” were in Hebrew. They were the name of God, which must not be spoken by any human being, the name which it was death to utter.³

Some may argue that this was an isolated instance, and Jesus never meant to use God’s holy name for himself. But Jesus also used “I AM” for himself on several other occasions. Imagine the religious leaders’ reactions upon hearing Jesus’ other radical claims:

• “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12)
• “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6)
• “I am the only way to the Father” (John 14:6)
• “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)
• “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11)
• “I am the door” (John 10:9)
• “I am the living bread” (John 6:51)
• “I am the true vine” (John 15:1)
• “I am the Alpha and Omega” Revelation1:7-8)

As Lewis observes, if these claims were not from God himself, Jesus would have been deemed a lunatic. But what made Jesus credible to those who heard him were the numerous miracles he performed, and eventually his resurrection from the dead.

Jesus called himself “Son of man,” and “Son of God” on several occasions. Let’s examine the meaning of those names in context of how his Jewish audience understood them.

What Did Jesus Mean by Son of Man?

Over eighty times in the New Testament Jesus refers to himself as “Son of man.” So, what did Jesus mean by Son of man, and what did it mean to his Jewish audience?

Packer writes that the name, Son of man referred to Jesus’ role as Savior-King, fulfilling the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 53.⁴ In other words, God’s Messiah would be a man. Yet, the prophet Isaiah also said that the child who would be born would be the “Mighty God,” “Everlasting Father,” Prince of Peace,” indicating he would be both man and God (Isaiah 9:6).

By calling himself the Son of man, Jesus was also referring to himself as the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy.  Daniel prophesies,

I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him (Daniel 7:13-14).

In Luke 21:27, Jesus said that when he returns to earth, he will fulfill Daniel’s prophecy of the Son of man.  “Then everyone will see the Son of man arrive on the clouds with power and great glory.”

So, why is the Son of man being worshiped, when God alone is to be worshiped—unless he is God? Jesus’ claim to be the “I AM,” and his claim to be the Son of Man point to his claim to deity.

What Did Jesus Mean by Son of God?

Jesus also claimed to be the “Son of God.” This title doesn’t mean Jesus is God’s biological Son. Nor does it imply inferiority any more than a human son is inferior in essence to his father. A son shares his father’s DNA, and although he is different, they are both equal as men.

Scholars say that the term “Son of God” in the original languages refers to likeness, or “of the same order.” Jesus meant by it that he has divine essence, or in 21st century terms, the “DNA of God”. Professor Peter Kreeft explains,

What did Jesus mean when he called himself the “Son of God?” The son of a man is a man. (Both “son” and “man,” in the traditional language, mean males and females equally.) The son of an ape is an ape. The son of a dog is a dog. The son of a shark is a shark. And so, the Son of God is God. “Son of God” is a divine title.⁵

Jesus continually referred to his Father as God. And in John 17 Jesus refers to his Father as “the one true God.” However, in the same passage, Jesus speaks about the glory he and his Father shared before the world began. How could Jesus have existed eternally with the Father unless he and his Father shared the same divine attribute of eternal existence?

Packer explains what Jesus meant by using the term, “Son of God.”

When, therefore, the Bible proclaims Jesus as the Son of God, the statement is meant as an assertion of his distinct personal deity.⁶

Jesus’ use of the names, “I AM,” “Son of Man,” and “Son of God,” all point to the fact that he was claiming equality with God. Certainly, that’s the way the Jewish leaders understood him.

But if Jesus was truly claiming to be God, did he make it known in other ways? To find out, we need to examine Jesus’ actions during his three-year ministry. Did he speak and act with the authority of God? Or did he simply speak for God like Moses and other prophets?

How Could Jesus Forgive Sin?

In the Jewish religion, forgiveness of sin was reserved for God alone. Forgiveness is always personal; someone else cannot do the forgiving for the person offended, especially if the Person offended is God. But on several occasions Jesus acted as if he was God by forgiving sinners. His jaw-dropping claim to forgive sins infuriated the Jewish religious leaders who witnessed Jesus’ claim to forgive the sins of a man with palsy.

Mark records the instance. “The scribes who heard him said blasphemy! Who but God can forgive sins!” (Mark 2:7).

That’s just the point; no man has the right or authority to speak for God when it comes to forgiveness of sins. Lewis imagines the stunned reactions of all those who heard Jesus. Lewis wrote:

Then comes the real shock. Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time.

Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God….

But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world, who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.⁷

What Did Jesus Mean by Being “One with God?”

Those who listened to Jesus, observed his moral perfection, and saw him perform miracles, wondered if he was the long-promised Messiah. Finally, in order to find out, his opponents surrounded him at the Temple, asking: “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered, “The proof is what I do in the name of my Father.” He compared his followers with sheep saying, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” He then revealed to them that “the Father is greater than all,” and that his deeds were “at the Father’s direction.” Jesus’ humility must have been disarming. But then Jesus dropped a bombshell, telling them, “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:25-30).

Some argue that Jesus only meant he was in agreement with God. But if Jesus had meant that he was merely in agreement with God, why did the Jews respond by picking up stones to kill him? Their understanding of Jesus’ claim to be one with his Father becomes clear in the follow-up conversation.

Jesus then asked them, “At my Father’s direction I have done many things to help the people. For which one of these good deeds are you killing me?”

They replied, “Not for any good work; but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, have made yourself God” (John 10:33). Once again, Jesus could have denied that he was God—but the fact that he didn’t is evidence that his statement about being one with the Father was a claim to deity.

Was Jesus the image of God?

As Jesus was preparing his disciples for his upcoming death on the cross and departure, Thomas wanted to know where he was going and the way there. Jesus answered Thomas:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him and have seen him (John 14:6).

They were confused. Philip then speaks up, asking Jesus to “show us the Father.” Jesus answers Philip with these shocking words: “Philip, don’t you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9). In effect Jesus was saying, “Philip if you want to see the Father, look at me!”

In John 17 Jesus reveals that this oneness with his Father had existed in eternity past, “before the world began.” According to Jesus, there has never been a time when he did not share God’s very glory and essence.

It wasn’t just Jesus’ enemies who were astounded at his jaw-dropping words. John Piper writes,

Jesus’ friends and enemies were staggered again and again by what he said and did. He would be walking down the road, seemingly like any other man, then turn and say something like, ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’ Or, ‘If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.’ Or, very calmly, after being accused of blasphemy, he would say, ‘The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ To the dead he might simply say, ‘Come forth,’ or, ‘Rise up.’ And they would obey. To the storms on the sea he would say, ‘Be still.’ And to a loaf of bread he would say, ‘Become a thousand meals.’ And it was done immediately.”⁸

Why Did Jesus Accept Worship?

Nothing is more fundamental to the Hebrew Scriptures than the fact that God alone is to be worshiped. In fact, the first of the sacred Ten Commandments is,

 “Do not worship any other gods besides me” (Exodus 20:3, NLT).

The most terrible sin a Jew could commit was to either worship another creature as God, or to receive worship. So, if Jesus is not God, it would be blasphemy for him to receive worship. That is why the words of his disciple, Thomas, are so significant.

After Jesus’ resurrection, the other disciples told Thomas they had seen the Lord alive (see John 20:24-29). The skeptical Thomas scoffed, telling them he would only believe if he could put his fingers on the nail wounds of Jesus’ hands and into his pierced side. 

Eight days later the disciples were all together in a locked room when the resurrected Jesus suddenly appeared in front of them. Jesus looked at Thomas and told him to “Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side.” Thomas needed no more proof. He instantly believed, exclaiming to Jesus: “My Lord and my God!”

Thomas could have simply called him, “Lord.” However, he further called Jesus “God,” and worshiped him. If Jesus is not God, he certainly should have reprimanded Thomas right there. But instead of reprimanding Thomas for worshiping him as God, Jesus commended him, saying: “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway.”

Jesus accepted worship on nine recorded occasions. In context of Jewish belief, Jesus’ acceptance of worship speaks volumes about his claim to deity. But it was after Jesus ascended to heaven that his disciples fully understood. Before Jesus left earth, he told them to “baptize new disciples in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), putting both the Holy Spirit and himself on the same level as the Father.

Was Jesus the Alpha and Omega?

While John the apostle was in exile on the Island of Patmos, Jesus revealed to him in a vision the events that will occur in the last days. In the vision, John describes the following incredible scene:

“Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him—even those who pierced him…. I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One.” (Revelation 1:7-8, NLT).

So, who is this Person who is called “the Alpha and Omega,” “the Lord God,” “the Almighty One”? We are told that he was “pierced.” Jesus is the one who was pierced on the cross.

Then John sees Jesus on a throne, judging people from every nation. “And I saw a great white throne, and I saw the one who was sitting on it. … And the one sitting on the throne said … “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 20:11; 21:6).

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who reigns from the throne. Jesus had already told his disciples that he would be the final judge of men. Then, in the following verse, Jesus removes all doubt about whether he is God. As the Alpha and Omega, Jesus says, “All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children” (Revelation 21:7).

So, did Jesus claim to be God?

• He did so by calling himself, I AM.
• He did so by calling himself the Son of Man.
• He did so by calling himself the Son of God.
• He did so by forgiving sin.
• He did so by accepting worship.
• He did so by rising from the dead.
• He did so by claiming to be the Alpha and Omega.
• He did so by saying, “I will be their God.”

C. S. Lewis writes of Jesus’ uniqueness as both God and man. “What is beyond all space and time, what is uncreated, eternal, came into nature, descended into His own universe, and rose again.”⁹

And, his purpose was to become our Savior, making it possible for us to live eternally with God. As Packer writes, “Our Creator has become our Redeemer.”

Jesus’ claim to be God the Son needs to be understood in the context of his oneness with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 23:14; Matthew 28:19). The Bible teaches that all three persons of the Godhead are one in essence, attributes and eternal existence. The early church fathers called this unique oneness of God in three distinct persons the “Trinity.”

So, what did the apostles and early church fathers believe about Jesus’ deity? To find out, read the next article, “Did the Apostles Believe Jesus is God?”

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Endnotes